4 High-Protein, Low-Calorie Diets For Bodybuilders

The nutritional requirements for a bodybuilder is far different from the athletes engaged in endurance training or the weekend trainees. The aim of a bodybuilder is to build muscle mass and reduce the additional body fat.

For this reason, their fitness diet must comprise of plentiful proteins to repair and build the muscles and adequate amount of calories to encourage fat burning and prevent muscle cannibalizing. Following are the steps to prepare a high protein and low caloric diet plan for the bodybuilders.

4 High-Protein, Low-Calorie Bodybuilding Meal Plan

Calories

The calories play an important role for the bodybuilders who emphasise on bodybuilding and fat loss simultaneously.

According to John Hansen, the author of Natural Bodybuilding, consuming fewer calories should not be the ultimate motive of a bodybuilder bent on losing the additional body fats.Eating minimal amount of calories may lead to burning of muscles while too much of calories in your diet are bound to refrain you from developing a proper muscular definition.

Off season diet including precise amount of calories to maintain a certain body weight, while decreasing the intake by 10 to 15 percent or 300 to 500 calories per day before the competitions is not quite a perfect solution. You can build muscle mass and lose extra body fat consistently even if you ingest 2800 to 3000 calories a day.

Proteins

The protein intake for a bodybuilder is measured in terms of grams per pound of body mass. There is no universal or one-size-fits-all amount that should be accepted by every bodybuilder. The exact amount of your protein intake depends upon your effort and bodybuilding goals.At the beginning of your training, you must double your daily protein intake. If you previously consumed say 0.36 gram of protein per pound of your body mass then you must start with at least 0.72 gram per pound. However, a serious bodybuilder consumes 1.25 to 1.5 grams per pound of protein every day.

Meals

According to Nick Evans, author of Men’s Body Sculpting, you must eat 3 meals per day associated with at least 3 protein packed snacks. Start the day with whole wheat toast, 5 scrambled eggs and black coffee. Eat brown rice and tuna in lunch and dine with steamed brown rice, grilled chicken and vegetables like spinach or broccoli. You can also consume protein bars, meal replacement drinks and protein powder mixed with non-fat milk and fruit juices as snacks.

Tips

You should avoid the unnecessary caloric intake like non-black coffee, salad dressing, butter and alcohol. For flavours use spices like garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper and cinnamon which helps in increasing testosterone level and the rate of metabolism. To keep your body hydrated drink lots of water and have black coffee only in your breakfast.